Latest Features RSS feedhttp://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/football-rich-list-201112-managers
enPlay your way to WembleyFive-a-side glory in the shadow of Bobby Moores statue thats whats on offer for junior players in the Indesit National Mini Soccer Cuphttp://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/play-your-way-wembley-0
Every player has heroes. Every player wants inspiration. And every player loves, simply, to play. That’s what the Indesit National Mini Soccer Cup is all about.vIt’s a five-a-side tournament for juniors, which will both inspire and provide a memorable day out for all the family.
We all know what five-a-side can do to your skills, team-work and fitness, but it also nurtures passion. Throw in a trip to Wembley and this is an irresistible combination.
The National Mini Soccer Cup is a mixed mini-soccer (five-a-side) tournament for under-8s and under-10s; teams can be made up of any combination of boys and girls.
It kicks off with 12 regional events across the UK in August, September and October. Regional winners then play for outright victory at Wembley Powerleague centre later in the year. And what could be better than winning a tournament in the shadow of one of the world’s most iconic football venues?
Whether you’re a coach, parent or player this is the newest and most exciting road to Wembley. Entry is only £15 per team (or £3 per child) – and you won’t just be playing for pride: there are prizes to win including kit, Indesit washing machines and more.
How to get involved
1 ENTER
Find your nearest qualifying tournament and visitindesit.co.uk/minisoccer.
2 THE REGIONALS
Take part in a local five-a-side tournament – the winning sides head to Finals Day at Wembley.
Aug 30 Peterborough
Sep 5 North Shields
Sep 5 Birmingham
Sep 6 Kilmarnock
Sep 6 Wigan
Sep 12 Sheffield
Sep 13 Derby
Sep 26 Trafford
Sep 27 Barnet
Oct 3 Basingstoke
Oct 3 Watford
Oct 10 Slough
3 THE FINALS DAY @ Wembley Powerleague Centre
If you make it through to Finals Day, we’ll supply your team’s kit and you’ll have a cracking day out at Wembley – there’s tons for all the family to do with a stadium tour, football challenges, food and drink and the chance to win Indesit washing machines. You’ll also be able to check out Indesit’s latest range.
Winning kit for everyone
Indesit’s new INNEX range of washing machines and washer dryers saves time and effort, whatever you’re washing. It eases the pressures of life, takes the hassle out of chores and gives you more time.
PUSH WASH Making your life easier, real ‘one touch’ washing for busy families. For great daily wash results – it’s everybody-proof!
WATER BALANCE TECHNOLOGY Saves money by only using the water, energy and time the machine actually needs.
FAST FORWARD FUNCTION Shorter wash cycles for an even quicker wash.
SPORTS WASH Four dedicated sports wash cycles. Head-to-toe sports kit cleaning – it’ll even do your train4rs.
So for your chance to play at Wembley, ENTER NOW atindesit.co.uk/minisoccer.
The essential rules
The Indesit National Mini Soccer Cup is a mixed five-a-side tournament.
Under-8s: the enrolled player must be under the age of 8 as at midnight on 29th August 2015.
Under-10s: the enrolled player must be under the age of 10 as at midnight on 29th August 2015.
No player may be under the age of 6.
All teams must pay an entrance fee of £15.
For full terms and conditions, visit indesit.co.uk/minisoccer
By entering you confirm that consent has been given by all parents/legal guardians for any images and videos taken at the Indesit National Mini Soccer Cup to be owned and used by Indesit Spa, Haymarket Media Group, Powerleague and Mums in the Know. By letting their children participate in the event, all parents/legal guardians will have been deemed to consent to this.No team or player can be registered with or affiliated to an academy (or Scottish equivalent) team that is part of a professional team (professional defined as the top 7 tiers in England and the top 4 tiers in Scotland).
featureFri, 31 Jul 2015 15:41:05 +0000Gary Parkinson424302 at http://www.fourfourtwo.comTickets please! Get into any ground with FourFourTwoPresenting our new way to buy and sell tickets...http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/tickets-please-get-any-ground-fourfourtwo
“Tickets! Buy and sell!”
All football fans have heard it outside a stadium, but there’s now a much safer, easier and more legal way to get tickets.
Turning the ‘secondary market’ transparent, Ticketbis is a secure, guaranteed online platform where you can buy or sell tickets to football matches (and events) around the world.
Whether you want to get hold of tickets or get rid of them, Ticketbis is the place to go. If you need a ticket, find a price you like; Ticketbis will hold your payment until after the event to ensure the tickets are genuine. If you’ve got a spare, choose your price and list it; when a buyer is found, you get emailed – and when the event passes, you get the money.
Ticketbis also sell tickets for rugby, cricket and music events, but let’s not faff about discussing the merits of admiring Madonna in Melbourne or Dylan at the Albert Hall – you want football. And there are football options aplenty at Ticketbis, FourFourTwo’s new ticketing partners – so look out for the boxes on our news and feature pages, linking to relevant fixtures.
Among August’s tempting ticket titillations are Arsenal, kicking off their Premier League campaign on Sun 9 Aug at home to West Ham – helmed by Slaven Bilic, and match-ready after an extraordinarily early European adventure; tickets are available from £81.99. Fifteen days later the Gunners host Liverpool in what could be a fascinating game between two potential title contenders: tickets start at £119.
Speaking of title contenders, you could see last year’s top two clash on Sun 16 Aug as Manchester City host Chelsea: tickets start at £121.96. Or, across town at Old Trafford on Sat 8 Aug, Manchester United against Tottenham from £125.92. How about Spurs’ home game with Everton on Sat 29 Aug from £89.95?
In fact, at the time of writing you can get home tickets in August for any Premier League team, but some are running out fast, particularly the newly-promoted sides...
If you fancy spreading your wings, Ticketbis can also get you through the door across the continent. Experience Amsterdam as Ajax host Willem II on Sat 15 Aug: tickets start at just £34.01. Pop to Paris for PSG vs GFC Ajaccio on Sun Aug 16, from £36.93. Bob over to Bilbao for Athletic vs Barcelona on Sat 22 Aug; tickets from £173.76. Take a loved one to Milan for the August bank holiday weekend – and see the San Siro as AC Milan face Empoli, from £45.33.
There’s a planet of football out there, and the best way to get in is via Ticketbis.
All prices correct at time of writing: follow each link for more details on the game.
featureFri, 31 Jul 2015 14:42:27 +0000Gary Parkinson425361 at http://www.fourfourtwo.comThe FourFourTwo Season Preview 2015/16: West HamWith Big Sam having been given the big heave-ho, its all change in east London. In their final year at the Boleyn Ground, its over to Slaven Bilic to kick on...http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/fourfourtwo-season-preview-201516-west-ham
And so the post-Big Sam era begins. Let the football fiesta begin, right? Slaven Bilic may have almost picked up the Hammers’ job by default after Davids Gold and Sullivan failed to land anyone from a shortlist of illustrious coaching names, but the Croatian (recently named 43rd in our list of the top 50 managers in the world) may have the passion and tactical nous to match whatever anyone else can achieve at the final season at the Boleyn. A rumoured cessation clause without compensation exists should Bilic do very badly, but with several possibly sage signings in the bank already, the heights of the top half look well within reach. You still here, Nolan?
What the fan says
WestHamTilIIDie.com editor Iain Dale tells FourFourTwo how he sees West Ham's final season at the Boleyn panning out.
Why they'll do well
Gold and Sullivan have provided the means to shell out on several top bracket players to help usher in Bilic, and the acquisition of Dimitri Payet in particular looks to be good business. Stealing the playmaker away from Marseille, where he was the leading assist-maker in Ligue 1 last season, could prove a smart move and will help add guile to the Hammers’ attack in 2015/16. If Andy Carroll can be kept fit more often, and Pedro Obiang and Angelo Ogbonna (both looked at by the elite clubs) take to the Premier League straight away, the immediate future looks claret and bright. With a settled defence, now that Carl Jenkinson is back on another loan deal, former Croatia boss Bilic has the makings of a good squad at his disposal.
Why they'll do badly
If, on the other hand, the European signings fail to pick up the pace and relentless intensity of the English game, then the Hammers’ squad may be forced to rely on the unconvincing Mauro Zarate and Modibo Maiga should Enner Valencia and Diafra Sakho need a rest. Also, have the East End outfit let Stewart Downing fly the nest a season too soon? The Hammers had a storming start to last season, with Alex Song impressing in midfield, but ran out of gas late on in the campaign, hinting at an understrength squad. If this has not been addressed in the summer transfer market, there could be trouble ahead when injuries come to bite – especially important given the added stress and strain of a European campaign to contend with. Bilic’s side should at least play an attractive brand of football, grounded as he is in West Ham’s culture.
The big question...
1) How will Bilic fare as a Premier League boss?
The former Everton and West Ham centre-back’s Besiktas side impressed last season by pushing Arsenal in the Champions League qualifiers and then beating Spurs and Liverpool in the Europa League. And we all remember how his Croatia side made mugs of England at Wembley in 2007. Can Bilic now step up to the rigours of the Premier League?
2) Will youngsters benefit from Europa League?
Bilic may privately rue the a sapping pan European adventure in his first Premier League managerial stint, but one advantage could be that it provides the opportunity for West Ham’s youngsters to shine. The likes of Reece Oxford, Reece Burke and Elliot Lee could be the next talented youngsters from the Academy of Football.
3) Can they keep Carroll fit?
The tall targetman made a paltry 12 starts last season yet still scored five goals and impressed with his industry and bullish play, as usual. If the medical staff can get a full season from him, the Gateshead-born spearhead could prove to be the difference-maker.
Key player: Dimitri Payet
The former Marseille playmaker was the most creative player in Europe’s top five leagues, supplying more through-balls than anyone else (except for Lionel Messi) last season. And he has already excited the fans by scoring two goals and registering an assist in his first game, albeit a friendly against Southend. The Hammers may have suffered from a lack of creativity under Big Sam (they were the only side in the top flight to not have one of their substitutes supply an assist in 2014/15), so Payet’s inventiveness will be welcomed.
What we'll be saying come May
It was a great European adventure and West Ham look to have several stars of the future coming through, but that 12th-placed finish won’t have impressed the Davids as the Olympic Stadium comes into view.
Prediction
To see where FourFourTwo think West Ham will finish – along with a bespoke two-page preview – getour special new season issue, out Saturday 1 August.
featureFri, 31 Jul 2015 14:33:41 +0000Gregor MacGregor426343 at http://www.fourfourtwo.comMourinho vs Wenger: a decade of digs, gibes and japesHeard the one about the Portuguese and the Frenchman? Theyve been at each other for ages - and arent slowing up just yet...http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/mourinho-vs-wenger-decade-digs-gibes-and-japes
"Some clubs are treated as devils, some are treated as angels. I don't think we are so ugly that we should be seen as the devil and I don't think Arsene Wenger and David Dein are so beautiful that they should be viewed as angels"
Jul 2005: Mourinho on the fixture list favouring Arsenal
"We live in a world where we have only winners and losers, but once a sport encourages teams who refuse to take the initiative, the sport is in danger"
Aug 2005: Wenger rails against Chelsea's tactics
"I think he's one of those people who is a voyeur. He likes to watch other people. There are some guys who, when they are at home, have a big telescope to see what happens in other families. He speaks, speaks, speaks about Chelsea"}
Oct 2005: Mourinho responds to Wenger's criticism of Chelsea's transfer spending…
"I find it out of order, disconnected with reality and disrespectful. When you give success to stupid people, it makes them more stupid sometimes"
…Wenger, considering legal action, reacts to the "voyeur" comment…
"At Stamford Bridge, we have a file of quotes from Mr Wenger about Chelsea football club in the last 12 months - it is not a file of five pages, it is a file of 120 pages so we have a very strong reaction"
…but Mourinho can't let it lie (although he would later apologise for the word "voyeur")
"Plenty of managers have won the Champions League who will not be considered great managers. If you would like to compare every manager, you give each one the same amount of resources and say 'You have that for five years'. After five years you see who has done the most"
Feb 2007: Wenger defends his record ahead of the League Cup Final, which Chelsea win as John Obi Mikel, Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor are all sent off
"Unlike Arsenal, we sought success and tried to build it through a concept of the game using English players. That was to have a positive effect"
Nov 2007: Mourinho waves the Buy British flag
"The English like statistics a lot. Do they know that Arsene Wenger has only 50% of wins in the English league?"
Apr 2008: Seven months after leaving Chelsea, Mourinho takes a swipe from afar
"I'm not the person to be in a club three or four years without winning a trophy. Maybe Wenger should explain to Arsenal supporters how he cannot win a single little trophy since 2005"
2010: Asked at Inter if he could survive if he wasn't winning trophies, Mourinho takes aim at Wenger's lack of success
"I think there should be sanctions. I do not want to see that. It's a pity to see that from a big club and overall it gives a bad image of our game. I must say it is the best demonstration to think 'never do that again', because it looks, frankly, horrible"
Nov 2010: Wenger reacts to Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso collecting seemingly purposeful suspensions for Mourinho's Real Madrid…
"Instead of speaking about Real Madrid, Mr Wenger should speak about Arsenal and explain how he lost 2-0 against a team (Braga) in the Champions League for the first time. The history about the young kids is getting old now"
…to which Mourinho reacts
"He is a nice man and I respect him a lot and I have the feeling that he is the same in relation to me"
Jun 2013: Mourinho cleans the slate in his 'Happy One' returning press conference
"Chelsea had already played twice against Man United so they don't play again anymore. They could have sold him last week but it opens up again about the dates of this transfer window. Some teams have already played twice against one opponent and some others not. I think if you want to respect the fairness for everybody, this should not happen"
Jan 2014: Wenger questions Mourinho's decision to sell Juan Mata to Manchester United…
"Wenger complaining is normal, because he always does. It's something that we know"
…to which Mourinho snaps back
"It is fear to fail. Only Chelsea can lose it because they are in front. If you're not in the race you cannot lose it, if you declare yourself not in the race you cannot lose it, simple as that. Our job is to be ambitious and to try to win"
Feb 2014: Wenger decries Mourinho's attempts to downplay Chelsea's title chances
'He is a specialist in failure, I am not. The reality is he is a specialist because eight years without a piece of silverware, that is failure. If I did that in Chelsea I would leave London and not come back"
…to which Mourinho responds with both barrels
"I do not want to go into that silly, disrespectful remark. The only thing I know is it's more embarrassing for Chelsea than for me. I'm embarrassed for him, honestly"
…and Wenger heads for the moral high ground
"I do so many wrong things in football. But not this time because this time I was just in my technical area and it was not my problem. Game over. Story over"
Oct 2014: Things get physical in the Stamford Bridge technical area as the pair clash
"What is to regret after that? I wanted to go from A to B and somebody confronted me without any sign of welcome. B was get to Sanchez to see if he was injured. Was it a push? A little one. You can see when I really try to push"
... but there's nothing to be sorry for, says Arsene. Unless Jose wants there to be. Was that an offering out?
"They were scoring some, they were also conceding some. They were fantastic. They scored really beautiful goals, they concede some goals too and they were almost there. But they asked the international board to play only between January and April. And they told 'no chance, no chance'. You have to play between August and May, so they couldn't be champions"
May 2015: Not satisfied with having steamrollered the Premier League competition, Jose lays into his Premier League rivals (including both Manchester clubs)… agai
"Forget his speech and move onto something else. I’m not interested in his speech. I don’t listen to what people say. I listen to the questions that are asked, but when I don’t want to answer, I don’t want to answer"
... and Wenger bites... his tongue
"If you add up the amounts clubs have spent in the last three or four years maybe you will find a surprise. If you put Ozil plus Sanchez plus Chambers plus Debuchy, you will maybe find a surprise. Get a calculator. That is the easiest thing, it leaves no space for speculation"
July 2015: Happy summer! Jose talks up Arsenal’s title chances
"We spend when we think we have to spend and do not listen to what people think or say. When we don't have the money, we don't spend the money we haven't got. I believe that one day if you make real statistics of the players we have developed here and compare them to the other clubs, you will be surprised"
… but his French 'friend' isn’t taking the bait again
featureFri, 31 Jul 2015 14:32:24 +0000Joe Brewin260703 at http://www.fourfourtwo.comSergio Ramos ruins fantastic future with no Madrid move Yet againFlorentino Pérez gets his way by chucking some money around, groansTim Stannard...Tim Stannardhttp://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/sergio-ramos-ruins-fantastic-future-no-madrid-move
Well, that’s a bit of a bummer. A scintillating close-season long story that kept thousands in work over the stinky summer months is now over, to cause food riots sparked by starving journalists across the globe.
Sergio Ramos is set to stay at Real Madrid after all, say Marca. Until 2020. When he will be 40 or something. It is a soul-crushingly dull outcome to the opera akin to an Eastenders Christmas special, ending with a nice turkey dinner and snooze in front of the fire, rather than a body-deforming nano-virus or a wormhole in Dot Cotton’s Laundromat.
Sergi-oh, no
Now, what would have been a treat of an outcome was Sergio Ramos leaving Real Madrid to see Florentino Pérez losing two club captains and all-round figureheads in the space of a month. We would have then had the double pleasure of the Andalusian playing in a league with proper refereeing, as opposed to the red card fest of La Liga, while Real Madrid struggled on with Marcelo as club captain and Cristiano Ronaldo quite, quite furious about the concept.
But for a few short weeks, the dream of football surreality seemed within reach. Tantalisingly so. Ramos had stormed into the Bernabéu demanding an exit, stormed off on holiday, stormed back, stormed to Australia and then China for a meeting with Florentino Pérez, where it seems that he has stormed into a huge pit of money - Marca report that the defender will be on €9m per year. Net. One thing’s for sure, though: Manchester United are not going to be happy bunnies.
AS reported on Wednesday that the Premier League outfit were most unhappy at Ramos already because the defender had not tried hard enough to extricate himself from the Santiago Bernabéu and the clutches of Florentino. The Old Trafford side will be hopping mad on Thursday now that the sensational stopper has apparently pledged his future to Madrid.
This may make it a little more likely that United gain some kind of revenge by digging their heels in over letting David de Gea out of his contract which still has a year to run. United might take the ultimate revenge in persuading Pérez that Phil Jones is both very good and very, very marketable and cheap at 200 million quid.
Jose's jibes
One story set to make the front pages for a while is José Mourinho calling Rafa Benítez big-boned, in response to an interview with Mrs. Benítez saying that her husband was going around the clubs of Europe cleaning up Mourinho’s messes like a footballing dog warden.
Unfortunately Rafa Benítez wasn't biting by saying something equally as rude to the Chelsea manager, musing that he only wanted to talk about football. So that left two summer sizzler stories hitting brick walls in one day. A sad few hours in the life of La Liga Loca.
More from La Liga Loca on FFT.com
featureFri, 31 Jul 2015 14:02:47 +0000Joe Brewin426385 at http://www.fourfourtwo.comFootball attitudes lag behind crickets, says ex-Liverpool doc minding Aussie Ashes starsPeter Brukner is currently patching up the Baggy Green cricketers doing battle against England, but before that he was rushing through Andy Carrolls Reds medical at the 11th hour...Richard Edwardshttp://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/football-attitudes-lag-behind-crickets-says-ex-liverpool-doc-minding-aussie-ashes-stars
Andy Carroll might find himself doing a double take if he switches on the telly to catch up with the Ashes action this month – because a familiar face will be lurking on the Aussie dressing room balcony.
Peter Brukner, the Australian team doctor, is currently charged with maintaining the health of panto villains Mitchell Johnson, Michael Clarke Co., who are currently slogging it out with England in this summer's Ashes.
Not too long ago, though, Brukner was giving Carroll the once-over at breakneck speed as Liverpool looked to complete his £35 million move from Newcastle before the deadline clock ticked past 11pm in January 2011.
That eye-watering figure eventually equated to £5.8m for every Premier League goal netted by the pony-tailed giant, although Brukner can hardly be blamed for the current Hammers’ striker’s impotency in front of goal during his brief and injury-disrupted stay on Merseyside.
For the Aussie it merely served to emphasise the kind of pressure that Premier League backroom teams have to cope with in world football’s most competitive league – particularly as the transfer window is about to slam shut.
“It’s certainly a night I’ll never forget,” he tells FFT. “Of course, everyone says it shouldn’t come down to the last day or the last night but one or two always do - that was one of them, it was a quite astonishing day.
“We like to have a full day to do the medical and get all the tests done but I think Andy only turned up at six in the evening, with a deadline of 11pm to get it sorted by.
“It was all pretty rushed but we got everything done and made the decision. From a medical point of view, it was probably the right decision – and the other aspects aren’t my department.”
Redline
Brukner was initially brought to Anfield by Rafa Benitez, but by the time he arrived at the club the Spaniard was gone, with Roy Hodgson stepping into his Spanish size nines. It was a situation which mirrored his appointment as the head doctor to the Australian cricket team.
“I had been appointed by Mickey Arthur but as soon as I arrived in England (for the 2013 Ashes series), Mickey had gone and Darren Lehmann had come in and taken his place,” says Brukner.
“I was there with a lot of the other backroom staff wondering if I was going to have a job the following day. That, I guess, is just the nature of sport. It’s the same with football, the same with cricket, the same with pretty much every sport I’ve ever worked with.”
Brukner’s time at Liverpool was a mixed one, with Hodgson’s ill-fated reign ending shortly before Kenny Daglish decided to splash the cash on Carroll in a bid to lift the club’s faltering fortunes.
It wasn’t only a time of change on Merseyside, though, as Brukner explains.
“The last few years have really seen some shifting attitudes in the Premier League,” he says. “Clubs are more aware that sports science (departments) aren’t there to stop their players from playing, they’re there to improve performance and help players' rehab better than ever before.
“It was an interesting experience at Liverpool. In a way, cricketers are happier to be guided by what we say. They’re more compliant, they’ve got a good culture and they’re happy to do all those little ‘one percenters’ that contribute to both performance and injury prevention.
“It’s much harder to sell the whole concept of injury prevention to the football world. They’re still a little bit behind in that area. When I arrived at Liverpool, there wasn’t a good gym culture or a culture of injury prevention; the monitoring and so on wasn’t really happening.
“That was one thing we brought in and that gradually changed and caught on. There was a shift from ‘this is how we’ve always done it’ to ‘how can science help us to maximise these players’ performance and minimise their injury risk’.”
Tragic turns
Brukner’s time at Liverpool also coincided with Fabrice Muamba’s collapse while playing for Bolton against Spurs at White Hart Lane – an incident which cast a lengthy shadow over the English game.
Muamba was essentially dead for 78 minutes and received 15 shocks in a bid to revive his failing heart. The efforts of the medical staff in north London on that March night were ultimately responsible for the Bolton midfielder’s survival.
“It’s one of those things that always stays with you,” says Brukner. “I was watching it on TV and it was really one of those moments you’ll always remember where you were. We seem to be getting more and more significant injuries in sport, more collapses, more sudden deaths. Perhaps it’s something that we’re simply becoming more aware of, but there has certainly been a number over recent times.
“Cricket has always been regarded as a very safe sport and, generally, that’s the case. I think that’s one of things that shocked so many people when Philip Hughes died late last year (after receiving a blow to the head in a Sheffield Shield game in Sydney).
“In the same way what happened to Fabrice had a huge impact on football and really showed just what a crucial role team doctors play, although events like the one at White Hart Lane are mercifully rare.”
On the road
Now, having left Anfield in April 2012 as part of a shake-up that also saw Damien Comolli exit (then the club’s director of football), Brukner is ideally placed to identify the major differences between the Premier League high-rollers and the cricketers who are carrying the hopes of a nation in this summer’s topsy-turvy Ashes series.
“Players are players and there’s a player equivalent in every team in every sport in the world,” he says. “Some will exaggerate every minor injury; there are all types in every team – whether it’s your local pub side or a massive club like Liverpool.
“There are a lot of similarities and a lot of differences between the two sports, I guess. With Australia it’s like family really. I’m on the road during the current period for about 280 days so you’re with these people a lot of the time.
“With football it’s more transient - you have people coming and going from one season to the next.”
The comings and goings at Anfield this summer mirrored the toing-and-froing of England’s batsmen trotting mournfully to and from the pavilion en route to a massive defeat at Lords against Brukner’s boys in the second Test. Both Liverpool fans and the Barmy Army will hope there are better days ahead.
More features like this every day on FFT.com
featureFri, 31 Jul 2015 12:59:49 +0000Joe Brewin425899 at http://www.fourfourtwo.comThe FourFourTwo Season Preview 2015/16: West Bromwich AlbionHow Tony Pulis and the Baggies will do over the next 12 months...http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/fourfourtwo-season-preview-201516-west-bromwich-albion
It’s difficult to preview West Bromwich Albion in 2015/16. Their squad is pretty average. They have a lot of solid-if-unspectacular Premier League players – captain Darren Fletcher, Claudio Yacob, Chris Brunt and Gareth McAuley stand out – but little stardust, except for Saido Berahino.
With Tony Pulis firmly consolidated as Baggies boss – a boardroom shake-up has only strengthened his power at the club – you can’t see West Brom being involved in a sustained relegation fight. The Welsh tactician drills his teams too fastidiously on the training ground for that, so what should you expect for the coming season?
In short, much of the same: plenty of single-goal victories and clean sheet-focused displays. You wonder, though, at what stage Baggies fans will demand something more aesthetic?
What the fan says...
Alex Horton of BaggiesBlog.co.uk gives us his views on West Brom's season to come.
Why they’ll do well
Their manager is battle-hardened in this league and is a safe bet to maintain West Brom’s top-flight status for another 12 months. Training encompasses extensive set-piece work and an instilled determination to scrap for every ball, no matter the game situation. No player is allowed to coast.
It’s this attention to detail why Pulis was able to win at Old Trafford last season for the first time in his managerial career. The building blocks are there for improvement. Although injured, Ben Foster is an excellent goalkeeper (with Welsh pair Wayne Hennessey and Boaz Myhill more than able deputies) and McAuley and Jonas Olsson consistent defenders. Brunt provides fine dead-ball delivery and Berahino the goals.
If new signing James McClean can replicate his early Premier League form from Sunderland – while ignoring the ridiculous controversy surrounding his decision not to acknowledge God Save The Queen during pre-season – and another couple of creative arrivals blossom, a top-half finish may not be beyond them.
Why they’ll do badly
The squad lacks creativity. Being a functional Premier League team is all well and good, but eventually you have to find a lock-picker who can fashion something from nothing. Even the quickest scan of the squad shows as much.
So, too, the statistics. West Brom’s leading assister last season was Brunt, the majority coming from set-pieces. Craig Gardner came next with just four. Indeed, half of the Baggies’ 38-goal total in 2014/15 came from a dead ball. More is needed from open play, now that some semblance of stability has been achieved.
For that to happen, Pulis will need to spend, but by late July only McClean had arrived. His transfer record at Stoke was far from perfect – buying a lot of players for around £10m, rarely playing them and moving them on for free – so bean counters in the West Midlands must hope the manager’s eye for a player has improved somewhat.
Interest in Arsenal’s Serge Gnabry, Liverpool striker Rickie Lambert and QPR assist king Matt Phillips suggest it might.
The big questions...
1) When will they find some consistency?
Pulis steadied the tottering ship impressively last season, but his charges didn’t manage back-to-back victories after he took over in late December. In fact, only once – in September against Spurs and Burnley under Alan Irvine – did they win consecutive matches. The Old Trafford triumph shows they can mix it with the league’s best, now they must do so on a more regular basis.
2) Can Brown Ideye justify his fee?
Signed for a club-record £10m, the Nigerian’s four league goals last term simply isn’t a good enough return. Were Berahino to get injured, or be snapped up by a bigger fish, the Baggies would be struggling. Either restore his confidence and give Brown games, or replace him with an upgrade.
3) Is it time for McManaman to shine?
There’s no denying the former Wigan winger has the talent – his jinking dribbles en route to 2013 FA Cup glory are testament to that – but the 24-year-old failed to find his best form after arriving in the West Midlands in January. Yes, the Baggies need to buy in some creativity, but in McManaman they already have a more than capable option.
Key player: James Morrison
Every team needs a player like the English-born Scottish international. Now in his ninth season with the club, Morrison is a midfield mainstay, someone who can play in four different positions. When Pulis has a hole to fill, it’s usually the 29-year-old former Middlesbrough man who is chief plug. A fine technician, Morrison has made 30 or more appearances in all bar one of his years at The Hawthorns and will do so again. An essential cog in the West Brom machine, especially if they are to improve on last season’s 13th-place finish.
What we’ll be saying come May
It’ll be another season of Premier League football at The Hawthorns, but the murmurings of a better brand of the beautiful game refuse to go away. Pulis must inject something different into this team or he’s facing another Stoke stagnation. And just look at what Mark Hughes has managed to do with them.
Prediction
To see where FourFourTwo think West Brom will finish – along with a bespoke two-page preview – getour special new season issue, out Saturday 1 August.
featureFri, 31 Jul 2015 11:28:18 +0000Gregor MacGregor426322 at http://www.fourfourtwo.comThe FourFourTwo Season Preview 2015/16: WatfordBack up for the first time since 2007 and looking very different, will it be too much too soon for the Hornets?http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/fourfourtwo-season-preview-201516-watford
While Bournemouth drew the praise of football romantics last season with their attacking play and first-ever promotion to the top flight, it’s easy to forgot that Watford won more Championship games than the table-topping Cherries, scored nearly as many goals and conceded nearly as few. What the casual observer will know is that they followed this by parting company with the manager who got them promoted – the Serb, Slavisa Jokanovic, being replaced by the Spaniard, Quique Sanchez Flores – as is the Pozzo family’s wont. The Watford owners may be taking a huge risk but the club will need to take a few more to survive the drop.
What the fan says
Forza Watford writer Adam Drury gives FourFourTwo his thoughts on the upcoming 2015/16 Premier League season.
Why they’ll do well
Flores, despite being best known for winning the 2010 Europa League with Atletico Madrid, is no stranger to a relegation scrap, guiding newly promoted Getafe to 13th in La Liga in 2005. The Spaniard is aiming similarly high with the Hornets. “We don’t want to just stay in the Premier League,” he said. “We have to look at something solid and the next year to improve a bit more.”
They also seem to have goals in them – often a problem for promoted teams – with Troy Deeney, Odion Ighalo and Matej Vydra all comfortably reaching double figures last season. The signing of Switzerland midfielder Valon Behrami from Hamburg should also provide a Prem-quality supply line – the 30-year-old spent a couple of seasons at West Ham from 2008 –while Flores has already used his knowledge of Spanish players by bringing in Jose Manuel Jurado, who he worked with at Atletico. The new manager also speaks fluent English already. Bonus.
Why they’ll do badly
Odds on to go straight back down, Watford somehow need to try to take the momentum of last season into this campaign, despite a radical overhaul of the first-team squad and, of course, a new manager. And while Flores has been active in the transfer market, how long will he be given before the Pozzos pull the trigger for the sixth time in as many years? They at least seem to be backing the new gaffer to bring in his own permanent signings rather than loanees from their other clubs, Granada and Udinese, but very few have Premier League experience. One who does is record signing Etienne Capoue, who arrived at Tottenham from Toulouse with a big reputation he failed to deliver on. At least the giant midfielder will be given a fair crack of the whip at Vicarage Road.
The big questions...
1) Can they hit the ground running?
Capoue is one of 10 new signings at the time of writing, which on one hand is promising, but on the other begs the question: how long will the new players take to gel together? Flores’s best chance might be to only tinker with last year’s formula at first, introducing the new signings and his own way of playing gradually.
2) Can they make hay before Christmas?
Watford’s festive fixture list reads: Liverpool away, Chelsea away, Tottenham home, Manchester City home, Southampton away. We suggest they get plenty of points in the bank before then.
3) Will they still be the set-piece kings?
Watford scored the most goals from dead-ball situations (22) in the Championship last season. It remains to be seen whether John Terry and the like will be as generous as second-tier defences.
Key player: Heurelho Gomes
Eventually edged out at Spurs, the Brazilian was a near ever-present in the Watford goal last season, putting his long reach (his nickname’s ‘The Octopus’) to good use time and time again. The 34-year-old, who signed a new three-year deal in the summer, is one of the few players in the squad with genuine Premier League pedigree. Whether he’ll be too busy trying to keep the opposition out to lend his team-mates the benefit of that experience remains to be seen. The runner-up to Troy Deeney in the fans’ player of the season voting, at his best Gomes is a mercurial shot-stopper.
What we’ll be saying come May
Goodbye yellow brick road. Self-confessed Elton John fan Flores offered to duet with Watford’s honorary life president if the Hornets stayed up, but didn’t stick around long enough after disagreements with the club’s owners over transfer policy. Former captain Sean Dyche returned to the Vicarage Road hot seat just in time to oversee a second Premier League relegation in as many seasons. Oof.
Prediction
To see where FourFourTwo think Watford will finish – along with a bespoke two-page preview – getour special new season issue, out Saturday 1 August.
featureFri, 31 Jul 2015 11:03:38 +0000Joe Brewin426308 at http://www.fourfourtwo.comThe FourFourTwo Season Preview 2015/16: TottenhamPochettinos second season will invariably see more emphasis on high pressing and youth players. Can it yield even better dividends than last terms fifth place?http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/fourfourtwo-season-preview-201516-tottenham
New season, same old ambition for Tottenham: finish in the top four. Whether this is realistic is debatable, but that didn’t stop Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino thinking even bigger at the end of last season when he stated the aim for the new campaign was to “close the gap between us and Chelsea”. That’s right, Chelsea, the runaway title winners. Setting the bar even higher for a club that perennially underachieve is a dangerous game, especially when chairman Daniel Levy has one of the itchiest trigger-fingers in the Premier League. But there is cause for optimism, starting with…
What the fan says...
Martin Cloake - Spurs author, season ticket holder and co-chair of the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters' Trust(all views his own) -talks Tottenham.
Why they'll do well
…Harry Kane, who else? The Spurs striker’s goals last season – 21 in the Premier League, 31 in all competitions – contributed to 24 out of 64 points amassed by the Lilywhites, the biggest single-player points contribution in the league. If Spurs are to close the gap on Chelsea, much will depend on Kane avoiding second season syndrome and continuing to find the back of the net this term. And there’s no reason to suggest he won’t; after all, he has a full season under his belt, including match-winning performances against Arsenal and Chelsea and a goalscoring England debut. Starting this campaign as Spurs’ first-choice striker should hold no fears. It’s not just Kane who will benefit from another year of top-flight toil. In Danny Rose, Nabil Bentaleb, Ryan Mason and Eric Dier, Tottenham have a spine of young players ready to make the transition from rookie squad members to regular first-team starters.
Why they'll do badly
Spurs aren’t great at the back. In fact, they’re rubbish. Last year only four teams conceded more goals than Tottenham and two of them – Burnley and Hull – were relegated. While the Cockerels will hope to remedy this leaky backline with defensive recruits Toby Alderweireld, Kieran Trippier and Kevin Wimmer, it may not be enough as it’s the system that needs tweaking. At times last season, Pochettino’s high press left the back four horribly exposed. With the Argentine unlikely to tone down his aggressive playing style – it’s his trademark after all – it could be another long season for the defence. Another problem could be the lack of genuine strength in depth. During Tim Sherwood’s last few months as manager, he described the squad as ‘much of a muchness’. A classic Sherwood soundbite, but it rang true: Spurs lack star quality beyond a couple of players. Time to reach for the chequebook…
The big questions...
1) Can they sort out their home form?
They’ll need to. Spurs had only the joint-eighth-best home record in the league last season, taking 33 points to Arsenal’s 41 and Manchester United’s 44. If that’s what top-four home form looks like, Tottenham need to up their game and find a way of breaking down teams that sit deep and play on the break.
2) Does Pochettino have a Plan B?
SWAAARM! That, to put it very simply, is the Pochettino way. The trouble is when this all-action style doesn’t work – either against teams who don’t play out from the back or when fatigue sets in – there isn’t an alternative. Whether it’s two up top or ditching the inverted wingers, Mauricio needs to mix it up.
3) Can Levy stick by his manager?
This is a big season for the Spurs chairman. He needs to demonstrate the sort of patience he’s lacked so far during the majority of his 14 years in N17. The last thing this young team needs is another change of manager midway through the season. Sack Poch and the fans will turn.
Key player: Christian Eriksen
If it isn’t Kane, it’s Christian Eriksen. This sums up how opposition teams viewed Tottenham in the second half of last season, looking to shut down Spurs by nullifying the threat of Kane (the main goalscoring threat) and Eriksen (the main creative threat). And it worked. With so much pressure on the England striker to reproduce his form from last season, it’s vital the Dane steps up for a full campaign. He demonstrated his qualities with match-winning goals against Hull, Everton, Swansea and Leicester last time out. But what did all these games have in common? They all came within a four-week period. Time to do it from August to May, Christian.
What we'll be saying come May
Spurs miss out on the top four again. But next year…
Predictions
To see where FourFourTwo think Tottenham will finish – along with a bespoke two-page preview – getour special new season issue, out Saturday 1 August.
featureFri, 31 Jul 2015 08:28:41 +0000Gregor MacGregor426044 at http://www.fourfourtwo.comThe FourFourTwo Season Preview 2015/16: SwanseaWill the Swans continue to fly high in Garry Monks second full season with ex-Marseille man Andre Ayew on board?http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/fourfourtwo-season-preview-201516-swansea
Top that, Swansea. A highest-ever Premier League finish, despite losing their star striker in January, should have most Jacks fans in dreamland. But according to one poll, what 62% of them are dreaming of, in fact, is finishing even higher than last season’s eighth place. Manager Garry Monk - rewarded with a new contract in the summer - has acted accordingly, reinforcing his squad early in what appears to be the right areas of the field, all the while trying to play down expectations with talk of the “hardest ever Premier League season, because of the new TV deal”. You’re fooling nobody, Gaz. Swans expect.
Why they’ll do well
Swansea have moved quickly to ensure that Wilfried Bony won’t be missed for long, with targetman Eder signed from Braga as a like-for-like replacement. With Bafetimbi Gomis starting to hit his straps towards the end of last season – scoring six goals in 10 games – and Gylfi Sigurdsson, Ki Sung-yueng, Jonjo Shelvey also chipping in frequently from midfield, suddenly the goals look like they could come from anywhere. But undoubtedly the biggest story of the summer is the signing of Andre Ayew. Somewhere near the peak of his powers, the Ghana star – who can play on either wing or as a second striker –could have had his choice of clubs given he was available for free after his contract at Marseille ran down. It speaks volumes for how far Swansea have come that he’s swapped the Cote d’Azur for South Wales. And we haven’t even mentioned the other threats from wide offered by Jefferson Montero, Wayne Routledge, Marvin Emnes and Nathan Dyer.
Why they’ll do badly
Monk does, indeed, have plenty of attacking talent at his disposal, but you don’t have to look far to find stats to suggest they need to be more clinical. For all their possession, no Premier League team spent less time in the opposition half of the pitch than Swansea last season (21%), while no one spent more time in the middle of it (48%). Further proof that they too often try to score the perfect goal comes in the form of their goals-from-set-pieces numbers; just eight last season, a Prem low (Newcastle apart). There’s also the question of whether Swansea can cope with increased expectations. While there are obviously areas in which they can improve, the same can be said of the teams around them. Stoke, Everton and West Ham, to name but three, will all expect to do better this season.
The big questions...
1) Are they over-reliant on Ashley Williams?
The Wales captain is one of the most consistent performers in the Premier League, but with Swansea more likely to nick a 1-0 than steamroller teams, is it too much to expect the nearly-31-year-old – who played all but one league game last season – to keep putting it all on the line? We think so. Youngsters Jordi Amat and Kyle Bartley – who both suffered injury problems last season – need to prove they can step up.
2) Can they capitalise on Southampton’s Eurotrip?
In truth, Swansea were a distant eighth to Saints’ seventh last season, the two teams being separated by just four points but a goal difference of 24. The Jacks will be hoping Southampton’s Europa League exploits will allow them to overhaul Ronald Koeman’s side and top the ‘second tier’ of the Prem.
3) Who is Swansea’s next big thing?
If Monk is to take his team onto the next level, he could do with one of the club’s many promising youngsters – either bought as teenagers or developed themselves – becoming a bona fide superstar. Midfielder Matt Grimes looks most likely, having featured heavily in pre-season.
Key player: Lukasz Fabianski
Plucked from the Arsenal bench (at best), the Polish freebie was a revelation in his first season at the Liberty Stadium, making the most saves of any top-flight goalkeeper (137) and picking up several man-of-the-match awards, including on his return to the Emirates. Michel Vorm, currently warming the dugout on the other side of north London, was barely missed. That said, Fabianski would surely prefer not to be called upon so often; Swansea were among the top six Premier League clubs in terms of shots conceded (14.6 per game). Sweden international Kristoffer Nordfeldt has been brought in from Heerenveen as backup.
What we’ll be saying come May
This season was always going to be an anti-climax for Swansea since the Premier League announced rules limiting the number of wingers in each squad to 10. Forced to play proper full-backs –well, Kyle Naughton – in the wide defensive positions, Swansea’s possession-at-all-costs philosophy fell down somewhat when they discovered that the backpass rule had been scrapped in 1992. Needing several months to adjust, they eventually finished 16th.
Prediction
To see where FourFourTwo think Swansea will finish – along with a bespoke two-page preview – getour special new season issue, out Saturday 1 August.
featureThu, 30 Jul 2015 16:42:14 +0000Joe Brewin425934 at http://www.fourfourtwo.com